{"id":1416,"date":"2008-08-27T08:31:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-27T08:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:12:52","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:12:52","slug":"how-shall-we-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html","title":{"rendered":"How shall we live?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SLVRNFifUXI\/AAAAAAAABLw\/DFlX5-CBUd8\/s1600-h\/Two-Men-Engaged-in-an-Argument-One-Manifesting-Anger-the-Other-Trying-to-Calm-Him-Down-Giclee-Print-C12362943.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:left;margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SLVRNFifUXI\/AAAAAAAABLw\/DFlX5-CBUd8\/s400\/Two-Men-Engaged-in-an-Argument-One-Manifesting-Anger-the-Other-Trying-to-Calm-Him-Down-Giclee-Print-C12362943.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div>Near the end of her wonderful book, <span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic\">Waking Up To What You Do, <\/span>Diane Rizzetto quotes the Dalai Lama.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic\">There is only one important point you must keep in your mind and let it be your guide. No matter what people call you, you are just who you are. Keep to this truth. You must ask yourself how is it you want to live your life. We live and we die, this is the truth that we can only face alone. No one can help us, not even the Buddha. So, consider carefully, what prevents you from living the way you want to live your life?<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The book is a consideration of the <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/buddhism' target='_blank'>Buddhist<\/a> precepts, a subject I\u2019ve found worthy of years of consideration. What I\u2019m particularly interested in is how our actions are connected to our insight.\u00a0As the Unitarian divine A. Powell Davies once observed \u201cNone of our private worlds is big enough for us to live a wholesome life in.\u201d So, at least as I see it, the question boils down for me how do our worlds touch? And what does that mean?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Among the interesting problems I\u2019ve found is how much of a consideration of the moral or ethical or well-lived life is about me and how much of it is about others? Practically speaking, how much inward looking? And, how much outward action?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>And there\u2019s something else.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>At least in my experience\u2026<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I agree with the Dalai Lama that no one saves us from ourselves, not the Buddha, not Jesus.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So we\u2019re driven to the heart of the matter. We\u2019re called to look hard at ourselves.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The way is succinctly presented in the twelfth case of the <span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic\">Gateless Gate<\/span> collection.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThe priest Ruiyan called \u2018Master!\u2019 to himself every day and answered himself, \u2018Yes!\u2019 Then he would say \u2018be aware!\u2019 and reply \u2018Yes!\u2019 \u2018Don\u2019t be deceived by others!\u2019 \u2018No, no!\u2019<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>But there is sort of a trick here.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>This is not, absolutely not, a call to egoism.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Among the others who would deceive us is the other in our own hearts saying I am not a part of it. There\u2019s the real liar\u2026<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Here our guides and our practices call us to a place where there is no separation, no I, no other.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>An important point.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Because we find this and then the gates of heaven are thrown open.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Jesus laughs.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>And the Buddha reaches out a hand.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>At least, in my poor way, I am trying to suggest\u2026<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/33904114-5998462585618300293?l=monkeymindonline.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Near the end of her wonderful book, Waking Up To What You Do, Diane Rizzetto quotes the Dalai Lama. There is only one important point you must keep in your mind and let it be your guide. No matter what people call you, you are just who you are. Keep to this truth. You must [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How shall we live?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Near the end of her wonderful book, Waking Up To What You Do, Diane Rizzetto quotes the Dalai Lama.There is only one important point you must keep in your\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How shall we live?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Near the end of her wonderful book, Waking Up To What You Do, Diane Rizzetto quotes the Dalai Lama.There is only one important point you must keep in your\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-08-27T08:31:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-01T19:12:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SLVRNFifUXI\/AAAAAAAABLw\/DFlX5-CBUd8\/s400\/Two-Men-Engaged-in-an-Argument-One-Manifesting-Anger-the-Other-Trying-to-Calm-Him-Down-Giclee-Print-C12362943.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html\",\"name\":\"How shall we live?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-08-27T08:31:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-01T19:12:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"Near the end of her wonderful book, Waking Up To What You Do, Diane Rizzetto quotes the Dalai Lama.There is only one important point you must keep in your\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How shall we live?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. He has been authorized as a teacher within two traditional Zen lineages. James has washed dishes, assisted a crab fisherman on the Florida keys, worked in bookstores up and down the California coast, and served as a Unitarian Universalist parish minister. He currently lives with his spouse Jan and her mother in Los Angeles. His next book the Intimate Way of Zen is due from Shambhala Publications in July, 2024.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.emptymoonzen.org\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_Ishmael_Ford\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/author\/jamesford\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How shall we live?","description":"Near the end of her wonderful book, Waking Up To What You Do, Diane Rizzetto quotes the Dalai Lama.There is only one important point you must keep in your","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How shall we live?","og_description":"Near the end of her wonderful book, Waking Up To What You Do, Diane Rizzetto quotes the Dalai Lama.There is only one important point you must keep in your","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html","og_site_name":"Monkey Mind","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029","article_published_time":"2008-08-27T08:31:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-11-01T19:12:52+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SLVRNFifUXI\/AAAAAAAABLw\/DFlX5-CBUd8\/s400\/Two-Men-Engaged-in-an-Argument-One-Manifesting-Anger-the-Other-Trying-to-Calm-Him-Down-Giclee-Print-C12362943.jpg"}],"author":"James Ford","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Ford","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html","name":"How shall we live?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-08-27T08:31:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-01T19:12:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb"},"description":"Near the end of her wonderful book, Waking Up To What You Do, Diane Rizzetto quotes the Dalai Lama.There is only one important point you must keep in your","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/how-shall-we-live.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How shall we live?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/","name":"Monkey Mind","description":"Easily distracted...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb","name":"James Ford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"James Ford"},"description":"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. He has been authorized as a teacher within two traditional Zen lineages. James has washed dishes, assisted a crab fisherman on the Florida keys, worked in bookstores up and down the California coast, and served as a Unitarian Universalist parish minister. He currently lives with his spouse Jan and her mother in Los Angeles. His next book the Intimate Way of Zen is due from Shambhala Publications in July, 2024.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.emptymoonzen.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_Ishmael_Ford"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/author\/jamesford"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}